다양한 3D 프린터 종류별 서포트 설계

3D printers stack material layer by layer to produce 3D objects. This means that one layer must be placed on the top of another layer to avoid collapse. However, in practice many 3D designs have overhang areas. Thus, 3D printers require to produce support structure, which will be disposed after printing, that allows them to stack layers of overhang area without collapse. Support structure determines the success of printing job and brings more sophisticated printing results. Traditionally, the main purpose of support structure is to resist gravity force. As various 3D printing technologies are developed, support structure is required to offer more functions to construct high quality 3D objects such as preventing collapse by horizontal force, releasing thermal stress, etc. Optimized support structures ensure good quality of printed parts and even give more benefits like less building time, less consumed material and easy post processing which reduce total cost of 3D printing process. Therefore necessity for good support structure is growing in the industry. In this paper, various conditions for 3D printing support structure and corresponding requirements of each conditions will be reviewed and studied, including appropriated design steps and generation process of structures.